Will neutering my 4-yr.old Great Dane help alleviate his new behavior of alpha dog aggression?
Angus, my 4.5 year-old male Great Dane and I moved from Texas to SC 10 months ago. He is trained as a pet therapy dog. Angus is extremely sweet and well-behaved. He is intact due to an agreement with the breeder which includes the possibility of breeding him.
Since we’ve been here he has been aggressive towards four other male dogs he’s encountered. This type of behavior never happened before we moved here. The last incident was the only one where he drew blood. (He ripped the dog’s ear requiring five staples.) I realize it is alpha behavior. While I want to socialize him, I never know when this behavior will occur since dogs’ don’t wear signs saying they are alpha.
It has been recommended that I neuter him to calm him and extend his life. Will this work?
Most likely not. The only time neutering affect behavior is when the behavior is hormone driven. If there was a female in season around then I’d say yes, if there wasn’t a female in season around then no. From what you have said it seems much more likely that the change in behavior was somehow driven by your recent move…it is possible that there is a female in season that you don’t know about and he is smelling that and it is the basis for his aggressive behavior but I doubt that is the really problem or you would see fights at every show. If you want to neuter him it won’t harm him I just don’t think it will cure your problem and before considering neutering you should discuss the matter with his breeder so that they don’t decide to harm you for breach of contract….if you offer to have him collected and make the frozen semen available to them they will most likely be agreeable.
As far as working with him to train the behavior out of him you need to be able to set up him where you can control the outcome. In doing this you need to make sure that he has an “agitation” style muzzle or “box” muzzle on him so he can’t harm the other dogs. This style muzzle is used in Schutzhund and gives the dog the ability to breath, drinking, move his mouth, etc but removes his ability to actually bite. With this on you can insure that he isn’t going to harm the other dog. It sounds like you might want to put a collar on him that will give you more control. No matter what you should try to locate an experience trainer in your area to work with you.
AKC Canine Good Citizen & Therapy Dog Pit Bull Terrier
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